Early twentieth-century artillery battery on Windmill Hill in Gibraltar.
Levant Battery is an artillery battery on Windmill Hill in Gibraltar, at the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, below Fire Control South. Built between 1901 and 1903, it mounted a 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun. The battery was decommissioned in the 1970s and its gun removed.
Levant Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, forming part of the Fortifications of Gibraltar. It stands on Windmill Hill at the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, east of Jews’ Gate Cemetery, south of Mediterranean Road, and below the observation post Fire Control South. The position was named for the Levanter cloud, beneath which it lay, giving it an unobstructed field of view when higher batteries were affected by reduced visibility. Construction began in April 1901, and by August 1903 a 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun on a Mark V mounting had been installed. Plans originally anticipated two guns, one to cover the Mediterranean to the east and another to bear on Spanish batteries to the west, but the emplacement was ultimately built for a single gun aimed at Mediterranean targets. By 1907 the battery was supplied with drinking water from reservoirs at the Mediterranean Steps, and a water-carriage system for sanitary water was under construction. On 31 December 1915 the 9.2-inch gun at Levant Battery took part in an action against German submarines off the Rock of Gibraltar. The battery was decommissioned in the 1970s; the gun was removed to a scrap yard, and a community group later formed to support its recovery and restoration.
